There are different types of pressure, task pressure or psychological pressure.
Task pressure, sacrifices are made because there are too many tasks or they are too difficult to complete.
Psychological pressure often comes from not being able to say NO, either to too many or difficult tasks, or taking on responsibilities and tasks where responsibility, power and competence are not properly clarified.
Tasks with inherent conflict, unrealised ambitions, power struggles, personal conflicts and poor performance also create psychological pressure.
People usually react in two ways to increased pressure, some take up the fight and fight even harder, others flee and push tasks away because they can't handle the pressure, or beeing under enough pressure. In today's working world, too many people are under too much pressure, leading to poor performance, burnout and stress. Finding your optimal pressure level is extremely important for your performance.
Top management
Too much pressure on top management can often be solved by delegation. Too little pressure on top management can mean that too many tasks are delegated or targets are too low. Set more ambitious goals and increase internal task generation at top management level.
Middle management
Too much pressure on middle managers can often be solved through delegation and good communication, or lowering internal task generation. Too little pressure at the middle manager level is resolved by setting more goals, delegating, increasing internal task generation and raising the conflict level.
Frontline employees
Excessive pressure on frontline employees can be solved by adding resources, letting middle managers take on some of the tasks or lowering internal task generation. All depending on the structure of the pressure.
Too little pressure on frontline workers can be solved by increasing internal task generation.
Internal task generation
Internal task generation is an important tool for regulating pressure. But you need to be very thoughtful about which tasks you initiate, what function these tasks should have, and who should lead them. And by all means avoid pseudo work.
In addition to increasing pressure, internal task generation can direct or shift focus and energy. It can also help change the power structure and both increase and decrease the level of conflict in the organisation, and this of course refers to the positive level of conflict.
